author
Sir Richard Blackmore
1654–1729
A royal physician who also wrote sprawling epics, he was one of the most talked-about literary figures of his day—admired by some, mocked by others, and hard to ignore.
1 Audiobook
Essay upon Wit
by Sir Richard Blackmore
About the author
Born in Corsham, Wiltshire, in 1654, Sir Richard Blackmore built a career in both medicine and literature. He studied at Westminster School and St Edmund Hall, Oxford, later took a medical degree at Padua, and went on to practice as a physician in London.
Blackmore served as physician in ordinary to King William III and later to Queen Anne, and he was knighted in 1697 for his professional services. Alongside his medical work, he wrote long poems and prose works on religious, moral, and political themes, including epics such as Prince Arthur and Creation.
Although his writing was often ridiculed by sharp-tongued contemporaries, Blackmore was a serious and prolific author whose reputation in his own lifetime was substantial. Today he is remembered as an unusual figure: a respected doctor, a determined moral writer, and a poet whose ambition made him impossible for his age to overlook.